Drain Cleaning

[salamander]

Not an activity for the weak of stomach, let me say.

I just pulled the most disgusting thing ever out of my shower drain you guys. I must share. Count yourselves lucky I'm not posting pics. I moved into this apartment at the beginning of the school year, and I'd never bothered to figure out how to lean the drain, because I never needed to. Lately it's been draining really poorly, though, and it wouldn't close right, so I got down and fiddled with it a bit.

It turns out the plug is attached to a long chain that goes down the pipe, so you can clean it better. You can pull out two feet of chain, like a self-snaking drain. My chain had the worst hairball I had ever seen on it. I have had smaller PETS. And it was full of conditioner and congealed oil and grime. Ew ew ew. Thank god I decided to clean the drain myself instead of just ignoring it and moving out. I would hate to inflict that on someone else. I'm excited to take my shower tomorrow, now. It should drain really nicely!

[Bonny]

*shiver* This reminds me that I've been meaning to clean the drain in our bathtub too. Sounds like I should fortify myself before I tackle this task!

[Lixie]

Hairy draingunk, niice. I stick my shed hairs to the wall of the shower, have you tried that?

[spidermom]

The last time I had to do this, I took a shower with a very good-smelling scrub (jasmine) and cleaned the drain immediately afterward. It still smelled like the scrub. Of course it still looked gross.

And oh yes, Lixie - I try to catch loose hairs and put them at the edge of the tub so they don't go down the drain, but the drain slowly plugs up anyway. Obviously hairs escape.

[Cricket]

I stick my hairs to the shower wall as much as possible. DH jokes that he's still scared of what lives in the drain.

[salamander]

Lixie, I think the reason I got away with not cleaning the drain for nine months was because I stick most of my shed hairs to the wall of the shower. I was actually really surprised when the drain started backing up, I thought I'd been getting them all! Apparently not. O_O

[Lixie]

That's an impressively long time to get away with not cleaning. If only I could get away with not vacuuming the carpet for the same amount of time. :lol:

[Mary <><]

DH just pulled the most incredible drain rat out of our shower last week. I know what you mean about not posting pics. I wish I did not have the scar of that sight burned into the fibers of my memory. shudder:

[BlndeInDisguise]

Our drain is always getting all clogged up as well. I arm myself with rubber gloves. There is NO way I can handle that horrid slimy feel on bare hands. Eeeew!

[salamander]

I had to give in and clean the carpet a while ago. Another scarring experience. I never cleaned the floor of my dorm rooms in college, though. Not sure how I got away with it. I guess I was too busy to notice the hairballs developing in the corners, attaining sentience and plotting to conquer the world.

[AJoifulNoise]

I've recently trained myself to use a drain screen cover thingy (technical name). It has very fine mesh, so I'm fairly certain it catches all my sheds. I'd be fine cleaning the drain if it were just me... But, I can't stand cleaning everyone else's gunk out, too.

[Lixie]

The hair balls under my desk scare me. I usually sit at the computer with bare feet, so sometimes I suddenly have a ball of my shed hair tangled up in my toes. shudder:

Goodness knows how they actually get under the desk.. they probably morph into sentient beings five or so minutes after shedding. And now, I'm thinking it's something similar to how Mogwai come about. :lol:

[Cricket]

I don't even bother with gloves, I use an old crochet hook and a mostly toothless old comb in order to get a better grip on the slimeball. Its a gross-out comparison: but its like winding spaghetti.

[salamander]

Mine collect under the desk, too! I have no idea why. It's just their favorite place. I now have a bit of a problem, because my subwoofer also lives under the desk, and it's this weird artistic Apple thing. Clear plastic, with a hole in the middle. Guess what falls in the hole and cannot be gotten out? I'm thinking of doing something creative with a vacuum and seeing if that helps.

[Lixie]

They like it under there. They can get together and plot. What, I'm not sure.

As for the subwoofer, if all else fails, you could try calling it art and see what happens. Somebody might be silly enough to want to buy it. :p

[salamander]

*laughs* Pretty gross art. I've heard of worse, though. Maybe I should try it, and put the proceeds towards some better speakers, and maybe some anti-shedding oils.

[mommyofatoz]

This is fresh in my memory as well. I just cleaned our drain last week! And it was definitely a lot! Very nasty! I am now using a drain cover, cause I don't want to have to do that again!

[harley mama]

Monster drain hairballs. One of the many joys of having long hair! I stick my shed hair to the shower wall but still have issues with a slow drain. The last time we unclogged it DH had to get the plumbers snake after the clog. It was huge and scary!

[ajr]

I had to give in and clean the carpet a while ago. Another scarring experience. I never cleaned the floor of my dorm rooms in college, though. Not sure how I got away with it. I guess I was too busy to notice the hairballs developing in the corners, attaining sentience and plotting to conquer the world.


Hehe I finally caved when I saw how all my hair had massed in one corner of the room, I think if I'd put it off any longer the thing would have tried to smother me in my sleep. My mom refuses to vaccum my room she says it damages the machine.

[Miss Murphy]

I use a drain cover like AJN, too. And I have to clean it out after every hair wash, and sometimes in the middle of one (because it gets too clogged).
And that is all I can stomach, really. I have zero tolerance for stray hairs, they gross me out to no extent.
Doesn't matter that they're mine, the ick-factor is still huge :shudder:

[MeganS]

I use the "stick hair to the wall" method plus using a drain screen (which catches the sheds I miss). It's been pretty good for keeping our drain clear of my hair. (DH insists he does not shed. :rolleyes: He has buzzed hair, but his body hair is his main contribution to the drain screen.)

[Just_Isabel]

Drain hair!

I also try to get as many hairs and stick them to my wall, but there are always some that escape. :eek: Gross, gross, gross! - And catching the hairs was much easier when my hair was longer, because I could just bring it all over my shoulder, I can't always get the ones that fall from the back of my head because I can't see them.
Oh, and I usually comb and/or brush my hair before I wash it so I can rid my head of as many shed hairs as possible even before I step into the tub. But of course, most like to come out when they're wet and slippery with conditioner.

I also use rubber gloves when I clean the drain. :lol: The ick-factor is too big.


ETA: does anyone else spend way too much time catching hairs to prevent them from clogging the drain?
Before I cut my hair I spent almost more time with that than washing it! :rolleyes:

[Isilya]

I have a drain screen too (in fact, I have 8 ) and I remove all the hairs from it after every shower/bath.
If I find stray hairs when I'm in the tub, I stick them the wall and make animal silhouettes with them (what do you mean, childish? :D), then I rinse the hairs off at the end of my bath, so it ends up in the screen as well.
Since using one, I've had no complaints from my parents about me clogging the drain, so I guess they work :) (and my parents would notice. I only knew my hair clogged everything when a drain screen 'magically' appeared in the shower one day)

[Rosamaria]

Sometimes I'm amazed that I have any hair left on my head when i see what's down the drain, under my bed :(, in the vacuum cleaner, sticking to my socks, tickling me inside my bra, dangling off my clothes, turning up yelling 'surprise! in my food..................

[Chromis]

I find hairs stuck on shower walls to be rather gross so I use a fine screen drain cover. We seem to have gotten *really* linty sheets this time though and I land up cleaning the screen even in between wash days because of all the lint!

Best tool I've found for cleaning drains is called a Zip-it. It's a long piece of plastic with little barbs to hook out the hair.

[Eireann]

I color my hair at home. I once had to call in a plumber, who pulled out big nasty hairballs covered in dark brown slime. I was a little embarrassed! :run:

[angelthadiva]

:laugh::laugh:I am almost embarrassed to post this, but what the hay!

I remember when DH and I lived in a townhouse; the drain was going down slow, so we had maintenance out to take a look. The dude actually pulled out something that resembled a small animal covered w/condish...The look on his face was priceless. :laugh: He yelled, "Ohmigod"...

I shrugged :shrug: I have long hair and I use lots of conditioner, what can I say. :D